Christian writers: What is our calling?

I was listening to a Christian teacher a few weeks ago. "Why did Jesus come?"

Many answers were given. "To save us." "To seek and save the lost." "To free those in bondage to sin."

All of these answers and more were rejected. They were good answers, to be sure, but not exactly what the teacher was getting at. The specific answer is found in Jesus comment to Pilate recorded in John 18:37:

"...For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world--to bear witness to the truth..."

Honestly, that wasn't the first thing that popped into my head as I attempted to answer the question. But as I considered it, and thought about the truth that Jesus came to testify about, I understood. And I considered that our calling as Christian writers can be distilled down to this important element: a testimony to the truth.

Jesus is inseparably linked to the word and to the truth. We understand from John 1 that Jesus is one with his message. He is called "the word." He is God. He is the message. He is the truth. (Remember, "I am the way, the truth, and the life...").

Not a truth. The truth.

In our post-modern culture, truth is under attack. Absolutes have given way to relativism. What is true for me may not be true for you. Is not this the beginning of a downward slide into an anything-goes lawlessness?

I was privileged to attend the Desiring God national convention this past week in Minneapolis. The theme was the Power of Words and the Wonder of God. It was an awesome time to soak up great teaching from John Piper, Mark Driscoll, Sinclair Ferguson, Bob Kauflin, and Paul Tripp. I was particularly interested in the way Mark Driscoll (teaching pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle) broke down the ministry calling of today's communicators:
1. Feed the sheep (the Christians).
2. Rebuke the swine (Christians who are not following the narrow path).
3. Shoot the wolves (he noted that pastors who stumble into the philosophy of loving everyone, not creating controversy will end up loving even the wolves and that the wolves will take over their congregations).
4. Bark at the dogs (these are the "religious" people who are legalists, threatening the gospel by their false teaching. Mark is busy calling sinners to repent of their sin and the religious people of our day to repent of their religions.
5. Pray for the shepherds. This is critical so they can distinguish the sheep from the swine/wolves/dogs.

I believe our calling as Christian writers is a clear presentation of truth (Jesus). No, I don't mean that each novel has to be laced with the four spiritual laws or the Roman's road to salvation or even have a conversion within the covers. But in some way, there have to be distinctions that set our writings apart. A spiritual message cannot be tacked on. It has to be woven into the story in such a fashion that to remove it will cause the whole theme to unravel. The truths that we present may come as an encouragement to the sheep.

Or they may come as a rebuke to the swine. Or as a sniper to the wolves.

When we present the truth, we are giving our readers a glimpse into some aspect of God. Faced with an image of God, three things happen. I've adapted this from a presentation called "The Truth Project" a seminar sponsored by Focus on the Family. Read Isaiah 6:1-8 When Isaiah saw the Lord, there were three results (and can we not predict that a presentation of truth would have a similar response along these three lines?): 1. He was exposed ("I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips.") 2. Our culture is exposed ("I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips...") and 3. We become world changers ("Here am I, send me.").

Christian writers, what is our calling? To testify to the truth!